A/N: SORRY BUT I RAN OUT OF IDEAS FOR A FEW DAYS AND SINCE THERE'S
NO SCHOOL TODAY I DECIDED TO UPDATE. I HAD TO GET THEM TO FACE EACH OTHER. WELL
MAX AND TESS DON'T ACTUALLY SEE EACH OTHER IN THIS CHAPTER BUT IT'S A START. I
PROMISE THEY WILL IN THE NEXT. I KNOW I SUCK. I KEEP DRAGGING THE THING BUT IT
WILL GET BETTER. MORE REVIEWS PLEASE. ENJOY.
DISCLAIMER: NOTHING STILL BELONGS TO ME.
~*~
Michael's senses kicked in as he heard the screeching of the tires and engines
revving behind them. He looked back instantly and saw that there were two
motorcycles and a car speeding towards them.
"Shit!" He hissed. By then, the commotion had caught everyone's
attention and he was looking over at Kyle at the other car, who seemed to be
telling his dad to pull over.
"Don't pull over!" Isabel yelled from the back seat but her protests
were useless since two figures on motorcycles stopped right in front of them,
blocking the other side with the car.
"What's going on?" Alex asked. No one answered him but from the looks
on Max and Michael's face, this was definitely not good. He looked over at Kyle
in the other car who was now scowling with his arms crossed in front of him.
Max leapt out of the car, followed by Michael to face the two strangers. They
were wearing helmets covering their faces.
"What you do want?" Max demanded.
The two figures refused to answer but the taller one pulled a gun and aimed it
a Michael's forehead. "You. Follow me." He ordered gruffly, shoving
Michael in front of them rather roughly.
Michael growled tempted to use his lethal powers, annoyed that he was being
pushed around.
"Don't do anything funny, Rath." The other figure who sounded very
much like a woman, said when they were out of earshot from Max.
Michael looked at the two of them imploringly. Rath? She had just called him Rath.
How was that possible?
"What are you?" Michael demanded. There was something uncanny about
the two of them. Something very suspicious.
Both of them pulled their helmets off revealing a man and woman a few years
older than he was.
"What else? Hybrids of course." The woman
replied in a clipped tone.
Michael's heart leapt. This was all wrong. What the hell was going on? Were they Khivar's assassins?
"You're the enemy." Michael growled, getting ready for an attack. If this was the end, then he was either going
to win or go down with a fight.
The man looked at him stonily, not budging an inch. "On
the contrary." He said his voice stern.
"What do you want?" Michael insisted. He didn't like being kept
hostage and he was starting to worry about the rest of his friends.
"Your safety. Stay away from Alamogordo. Go to Carlsbad and then Texas. Go far from Roswell." The man
ordered.
"You tell that to Max." Michael scoffed, looking over at his friend
who was watching them from far away, suspicion written all over his face
The woman looked back at Max. "Zan is a liability right now. He does not
understand. You do. Keep your promise
Rath. Keep Zan and Vilandra safe." She said.
"Who are you?" Michael demanded but before either of them could
answer, Isabel's voice pierced through the eerie night, yelling for him and
Max.
They were under attack.
Michael ran towards his friends, the man and woman right beside him.
"Form a perimeter around them!" The man ordered and two other men
dressed in black stormed out of the car that was barricading them, forming a
circle around the group.
The group started firing, using their weapons, their powers, revealing their
cover.
In an instant, everything was turned into chaos and no one could tell who the
enemies were.
"What the hell is going on?" Max yelled at Michael as he raised his
hand to shield them.
Kyle, Jim, Liz, Alex and Maria were standing in the circle protected by their
alien friends.
Michael ignored him, concentrating on keeping them alive. But in the end,
despite the number of people on their side, their efforts were still useless. They
were out numbered two three to one and they couldn't protect themselves without
getting one of their friends hurt.
The man and woman who previously spoke to Michael were on the ground, bloodied,
mangled and dead.
They were all taken captive and were shoved into the back of a van, their hands
tied on their back by a strange metal.
"Michael, what the hell is going on? Who were those people?" Max
demanded. He could see that Michael was lying or at least hiding something.
That man and woman were protecting them. Or at least tried to.
"I don't know." Michael answered lowly.
But he had an idea. Tess must have sent them to protect Max, himself and
Isabel. It was possible that she did that.
"What did they say?"
Nothing. Michael refused to speak.
He looked away from Max, not wanting to tell him anything. He had to think.
Maybe this was a good time to tell Max the truth. He should know. But what about the promise? What if they got out of this and
there was no need to know about Tess' return?
"You're lying!" Max accused furiously. "Don't think I'm stupid!
You and Kyle, you've been lying! I can read you two like a book!" He
yelled angrily.
Michael said nothing. He felt so damn guilty that he might as well have blurted
out the whole truth but he didn't.
He just looked over at Kyle who was staring at the floor of the van, refusing
to make eye contact.
"Kyle." Jim Valenti said, nudging his son.
"We should figure out how to get out of here." He said, refusing to
join in the tense conversation. "Then later, we can all sit around and
blame each other, okay."
"Max is right. You're lying." Isabel said angrily. "You two have
been acting strange form the beginning. Nothing adds up." She accused.
"We're not lying." Kyle
protested; adamant of keeping their cover.
Michael opened his mouth to say something to Max but the van came to a halt and
the doors swung open and they were all were dragged out and blindfolded.
In the background, Max could hear the faint of voice of someone very, very
familiar.
************************************************************************
Khivar smiled as the van pulled over and his men dragged eight people out of
the van.
"The plan is working just great." He grinned to himself as he stepped
outside and motioned to take them into the warehouse.
************************************************************************
Max struggled for a minute, trying to break free from his captor's hold but the
man or whatever he was, was strong.
They were shoved into a room, Max, Michael and Isabel in one and the rest of
them in another.
"Max?" Isabel's frightened voice rang out.
"It's okay, Izz." Max said; trying to stay
strong for his sister.
"Where are we?" She asked, her voice small and frightened. She
couldn't stand up because her hands were tied and she would lose he balance and
she was blindfolded. "The floor is cold." She added.
"I don't know." Max answered. He really had no idea and it was
scaring him. Having no control over what was happening frightened him.
He felt paranoid, afraid, betrayed, angry, scared.
Michael stayed where he was, listening to them, refusing to say anything.
"I'm betting you know about this." Max's accused him angrily.
"It's my fault. I should have told-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the door creaked open and Max was pulled
off the ground and all Michael and Isabel could hear were the sounds of
struggling and Max being beaten to death.
Half an hour later, Isabel was crying by then, her body shaking from her
hysterical sobs despite her shame from being so fragile.
Michael felt the urge to stand up and fight for Max, to help his best friend
and king but he couldn't. Another person had come in a few minutes later and
started working on him.
His tied hands were put above him and he was hanging from a hook, his feet
barely touching the ground, making his arms hurt.
The brutal punches came, followed by the hard baseball bat that was smashed
against his back, making him whimper from the searing pain that had engulfed
half his body.
The blows that were given to him started to become deafening, mixed in with the
ones that Max was receiving. Somewhere, he could hear Isabel, crying,
struggling, and asking for their help.
"If you hurt her, I'll kill you." He heard Max threaten the unseen
man weakly.
The man said nothing, just snickered and hauled Isabel out of the room.
************************************************************************
She was forced to sit on a chair, her hands still tied together. She could hear
footsteps, muffled voices and opening and closing of doors.
Her blindfold was harshly removed, making her strain to see from the blinding
light. She blinked for a few minutes, her eyes adjusting.
A man stood in front of her, his face sinister; a scowl pasted on his lips.
"My Vilandra." He said, grinning like a maniac.
Isabel winced, moving her face away from his hand when he reached to caress her
cheek.
"Khivar." She said hoarsely, cringing from the coldness of his skin
that gave her memories of the torrid past that they shared. "You
bastard." She hissed coldly.
"Missed me, my dear?" He asked in a sing song voice, as he circled
around her and removed the handcuffs that restrained her. She leapt from her
seat and away from him, her eyes shining from the hate and fear that ran within
her.
She hated him. He was the man that destroyed her family, destroyed her, caused
her to betray that people that she loved most.
Khivar walked towards her but was interrupted by the door suddenly bursting
open.
"Khivar, what is going on-" Tess' voice trailed off when she saw
Isabel, standing there, with her back pressed against the wall, looking
frightened and trapped.
Isabel's eyes' narrowed. "You!" She hissed. "You? You're alive! You're part
of this? You bitch!" Isabel darted towards her, ready to attack Tess but
Khivar caught her wrist, and held on to it tightly.
"Don't touch my wife." He
warned dangerously, possessiveness glinting in his eyes.
Isabel's eyes widened from the shock. She looked from Khivar to Tess who seemed
frightened and guilty.
"Max was right all along. You did
betray us." She declared angrily, her voice filled with the new hate that
she just found for Tess.
How could she?
How could she side with the enemy? How could she betray Max who loved her?
She was supposed to be loyal, to be honest to them forever.
She lied to them. Again! She tricked them, made them feel sorry for her.
Isabel's blood boiled at the thought of it.
The image of Tess sacrificing herself for their safety was forever tainted and
never in her life did Isabel feel more hurt and cheated.
When this is over, she swore to herself that she was going to kill Tess.
Tess watched her cautiously. Isabel was angry and hurt and very, very misled.
She backed away, giving Khivar a warning look telling him to back off and not
hurt her or else.
She wanted to explain to Isabel, make it clear to her but she couldn't. Not
with Khivar in front of them. If he knew, then they were all dead. She might as
well have killed them herself and not sacrificed her life and her son's for
their safety.
No. This was going to work. She had to make it or everything she had done would
all be in vain and Antar or the Royal Four would be just a faint memory in
their already tarnished history.
Tess smiled, hoping that it would pass. "Good to see you, Vilandra."
Her voice was cold, not revealing her innermost fears and regret. If only
Isabel knew what she was thinking. Knew of how guilty and afraid she was. But
she didn't and it was going to stay that way. She turned her lovely face to
Khivar, her smile growing wider, her eyes twinkling, hiding the deception
behind them. She leaned close to him. "You take good care of my
ex-sister-in-law." She whispered coolly before she left the room, the
sound of her pounding heart so deafening that she thought she was going to pass
out.
Khivar grinned, pleased with what was occurring with the two women. It was so
obvious that Isabel or Vilandra hated his new queen. And that hate was
reflected back. If he wanted to watch Isabel tear Tess apart, he could, but his
plan was bigger and he needed to keep them alive.
For now.
